The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | November 28th, 2023: Iran-Backed Hackers Hit US & Biden Warns Israel Over Destruction In Gaza

Episode Date: November 28, 2023

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     Iranian-backed hackers infiltrated a local U.S. water system over the weekend in a shocking display of the reach of Iran’s many proxy groups. The Biden administration has warned Israel to restrict their upcoming military campaign in southern Gaza, requesting the IDF create “areas of deconfliction” to avoid the destruction seen during their initial response in the north. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.     Email: [e-mail].  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Tuesday, November 28th. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. Iranian-backed hackers made their way into a local U.S. water system over the weekend in a disturbing display of the reach of the Iranian regime's many proxy groups and putting focus yet again on the vulnerability of the U.S. infrastructure to cyber attacks. We'll also discuss a recent warning that the Biden administration issued to the Israeli government, telling them to restrict their coming campaign into southern Gaza to avoid the destruction seen in the north. But first, our afternoon spotlight. We start with a story of a recent infiltration of U.S. infrastructure that helps bring into focus the full reach of the Iranian regime and their proxies.

The municipal water authority of Al-Aquipa, which serves residents of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, was hacked by an Iranian-backed cyber group on Saturday. The group called Cyber Avengers, oh, sounds like a movie, took control of a municipal booster station shutting down a pump on a supply line that provides drinking water to two townships in the county. The hackers made themselves known by leaving a disturbing message for workers to find on the system's control panel. The note read, quote, you have been hacked, down with Israel, every equipment made in Israel is Cyber Avengers legal target, end quote. Now, the booster station reportedly uses an operating system manufactured by Unitronics, an Israeli-based company that trades on the Tel Aviv

stock exchange. Alarms quickly sounded at the facility, and workers were able to disable the system. They have since put in place backup systems to maintain water pressure to those local townships. Officials stressed that there was no risk to the drinking water or the larger water supply, as the computer that runs the power station functions outside the water authority's primary network. Still, the incident was a shocking example of the Iranian regime's ability to leverage their proxy networks, including cyber, to target their perceived enemies. Congressman Chris Deluzio, who serves the local community, said in a statement that, quote, attacks on our critical infrastructure, like water, are unacceptable, and he promised to use

his position on the House Armed Services, Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation Subcommittee to fully investigate the breach. As we've covered extensively on the PDB, Israel and the U.S. have been regularly targeted by Iranian-backed proxies in the Middle East since the 7 October attacks. There have been over 60 drone and missile attacks directed at U.S. personnel and facilities in the past five weeks by Iran's proxies. Now, this cyber attack on the Pennsylvania water system is just another example of the aggressiveness and impunity with which the Iranian regime and its IRGC is acting in an effort to assert

its influence and position on the regional and global stage. The cyber attack highlights what many within the U.S. intelligence and military communities believe is the number one U.S. national security concern, the vulnerability of the country's critical infrastructure to cyber or physical terrorism. The nation's power grids and water systems were not originally built with the idea that they could be targeted for attack, and creating, building, maintaining, and constantly upgrading security for U.S. infrastructure is enormously expensive and time-consuming. But if you ask counterterrorism officials and others involved in national security, What keeps them up at night?

Well, this is definitely one of the top three answers. The U.S. infrastructure and that of our allies, power grids, water facilities, banking, transportation systems, they're all being tested, probed, targeted, and mapped on a daily basis by outside hostile actors. And you can count on the fact that any future major global conflict will include a playbook for how to take down those key systems to massively disrupt access to electricity, water, fuel, and food. All right, coming up after the break, the Biden administration has warned Israel to restrict their upcoming military campaign in southern Gaza, requesting the IDF create areas of deconfliction to avoid the destruction seen during their initial response in the north.

I'll be right back. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. As we enter the fifth day of the temporary truce between Israel and Israel, Hamas. The United States has issued a stern warning. The message is clear. Once hostilities start up again, it must not be carried out with the same level of destruction. First, let's update the situation on the ground and the exchange of captives between Israel and Hamas. The terms of the initial four-day deal have now been fulfilled by both sides. Hamas has released 30 Israeli children and 20 women, half of them mothers reunited with their children, and an Israeli-year-old. And an Israeli

Russian man in a political nod to Moscow. Additionally, 18 foreign nationals, predominantly tie with one Filipino, were released through an arrangement brokered by Iran. Well, isn't that magnanimous of Iran? In return, Israel has released 150 Palestinian detainees, all female or minors, who had been incarcerated on a variety of security charges. Under the terms of the extended agreement, a fifth group of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are set to be released today. In total, Hamas is expected to release 20 individuals by Wednesday night, with Israel set to free 60 Palestinian prisoners in return. Now, throughout this whole process, Israeli officials have made it abundantly clear. Their ultimate objective is to dismantle Hamas, and once the ceasefire

has expired, they will pursue that goal relentlessly. However, this position is to dismantle the Hamas. However, this position is now being met with cautionary advice from the United States, emphasizing the need to avoid the severe destruction seen during the first phase of operations. Some, and by some, I mean Hamas, estimate that as many as 14,000 people have been killed in Gaza since hostilities were initiated by Hamas on October 7, although those numbers again have yet to be independently verified. And again, the Gaza Health Ministry, which reports statistics on casualties, is run by Hamas, a terrorist organization funded, trained, and supported by the Iranian regime in order to facilitate the destruction of Israel. I just thought it's important to know the source of the

numbers you're hearing. The United States and other nations supporting Israel's defensive measures have faced significant backlash over the extensive damage inflicted during military operations. So now, in part, because there's a domestic political calculation to consider, the Biden administration is attempting to lay down some ground rules for Israel's next steps in Gaza. They're basically saying, ease up on the firepower. With more than half the buildings up north either wrecked or empty, the message is, don't let that happen again in the south. The U.S. is also pushing for what they call areas of deconfliction where U.N. facilities and shelters are no-go zones for the military showdown. In a chat with journalists, a top U.S. official was quoted to

saying, you cannot have the sort of scale of displacement that took place in the north, replicated in the south, end quote. Well, what we have here is the U.S. administration working hard to placate somehow both sides, supporting Israel while telling the Arab world, Arab American voters in the U.S. and the American youth voters, that the Biden administration is also on their side. So the White House wants Israel to know that, yes, they have U.S. support in their objective, the destruction of Hamas, but only up to a point. I'm reminded of the Revolutionary War in the U.S.

The British will wear uniforms, march in formation, and fight according to a certain strategy, while the Americans will dress like civilians, hide behind rocks, and use guerrilla tactics. Look, Hamas has shown for years that they don't care about dead Palestinians. They will not be abiding by some code of conduct or avoiding UN facilities or shelters or civilian infrastructure. Israel, the IDF, does need to abide by the rules of war. They need to do what they can to avoid civilian casualties. They need to continually demonstrate by their actions that they value life as opposed to Hamas. What they don't need is for the White House to instruct them on how to take down this existential barbaric threat to their existence.

And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Tuesday, 28 November. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.